


Rule of Three

by badritual



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Order 66, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Not Beta Read, Post-Order 66, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Probably OOC Maul, Relationship Tags To Be Added As They Happen, Reluctant Friendship(s), Slow To Update, Team Up, unlikely allies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24332701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/pseuds/badritual
Summary: Ahsoka stood in front of the tiny cell where Maul was being held andthought.AU. Instead of using Maul as a distraction, Ahsoka offers him a chance at freedom and Maul takes it. But does he have ulterior motives?
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul & Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul & CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 14
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many multi-parters going right now, ugh I'm sorry. But this idea bit me and wouldn't let go, so here we are.
> 
> I'm not planning for any romance at this point, but you never know. Also, just to reassure or disappoint potential readers, if any romantic relationships do pop up it's very unlikely they'll be between Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul.

Ahsoka stood in front of the tiny cell where Maul was being held and _thought_. 

She could feel his eyes on her, tracing her movements as she paced thoughtfully in front of the little door, arms held behind her back. Her eye caught on the glare of the troopers’ plastoid armor at her feet; one of them groaned and tried to push himself to his feet before his arms gave way and he collapsed back to the durasteel underneath with a shuddering sigh. 

Ahsoka’s heart clenched in her chest. She hadn’t wanted to hurt him, any of them. His armor was white and blue, his helmet adorned in her colors and her markings. She was half tempted to reach down and lift his helmet up, to see his face, just to reassure herself it wasn’t Rex even though she knew it couldn’t be. 

But there were more pressing concerns at hand. 

Namely, the former Sith whose eyes were still following her every move.

Ahsoka unclipped her lightsabers from her belt and strode forward, fingers deftly tapping in the code to open the box. With a pneumatic wheeze, the door slid open.

She could sense Maul’s confusion and, beyond that, his curiosity. Even an inkling of fear; there was a small part of him that thought she had come to kill him. His yellow eyes darted about, almost fever-bright, before coming to rest on her. 

Ahsoka pressed another button with her thumb and the muzzle fell away. 

“We don’t have much time,” she said, not giving him a chance to speak. She freed him from the rest of his restraints and stepped back, lifting her ’sabers defensively.

Maul worked his jaw, slowly. “I see you’ve finally come to your senses, Lady Tano. Today is a day for celebr—” 

Ahsoka extended her arm, aiming the blue plasma blade of her ’saber at his throat. “I said we don’t have much time,” she snapped, pulling her lips back in a snarl, fangs bared. “We’re doing this my way, or not at all.”

“Something’s happened,” Maul continued, unperturbed, even taking a step froward, until her blade was close enough to burn the hairs off his skin if he’d had any. “You can sense it, can’t you?”

Ahsoka frowned, her hand wavering just a little bit. She _had_ felt it. The sudden gaping maw within her, as every other presence of Light was violently ripped from the Force. 

“Did you have anything to do with it?” Ahsoka asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion at him. 

Maul chuckled, but it was a hollow, mirthless sound. “A new age is at hand,” he said, ignoring her question as he came to a conclusion and, after a moment’s pause, deftly sidestepped her blade. He gestured to the door, which she was currently blocking. “You are right, Lady Tano. There is not much time. Shall we?”

“First things first,” Ahsoka said, extinguishing her blades and clipping them back onto her belt. She reached into a pouch at her hip and pulled out a set of Force-dampening cuffs. “I…I think I believe you. But I don’t trust you.” 

“No,” said Maul, baring his teeth at her. “I’ll not permit you to take me as your prisoner.”

“I’ll take them off as soon as we find Rex and a shuttle,” she said, dangling the cuffs in front of him. “I promise.”

“You refuse to give me the benefit of the doubt, and yet you expect me to submit myself to this indignity?” Maul hissed, stalking back over to the durasteel coffin in which he’d been held. He turned his back on her and leaned a hip against the door, with an affected air of insolence. “I think I’d prefer to stay.”

Ahsoka sighed and dragged a hand down her face. “We don’t have _time_ for this, Maul.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Then perhaps we could compromise,” he said. “I’ll _behave_. I swear it on my departed brother’s soul.” 

For some reason, this particular oath struck her as sincere. Perhaps it was the way his gaze had become unfixed, unanchored as he said it, as if staring off into a space only he was aware of.

With a sigh, Ahsoka tucked the cuffs back into her pouch. “If you double-cross me I won’t have any qualms about using these,” she said, patting her pouch, mustering all the threat she could. It turned out it wasn’t much at all. 

Maul chuckled again, a dry, warm sound that would be almost pleasant if it wasn’t coming from _him_. “You’ve nothing to worry about, my lady.”

“Would you stop calling me that?” Ahsoka barked, reaching out, taking him by the arm.

Maul glanced down at her hand where it rested over tattooed skin. “Is this necessary?” 

“Like I said before—”

“You don’t trust me,” he cut her off with a sneer and a curl of his lip.

Even mildly subdued he was dangerous, a threat. She could read it in the coil of muscle under her hand, and in the slow even breaths he took. Ahsoka imagined he was trying to rein himself in, to keep from lashing out at her with either the Force or his own two hands. 

“After we’ve found a safe landing spot,” Ahsoka continued, as she led Maul past the fallen troopers, “we’ll figure something out. And we can go our separate ways.”

Maul hummed tonelessly. “Ah, I see.”

Ahsoka peered down a seemingly endless length of hallway. The sound of heavy footsteps was faint but unmistakably _there_ , and moving closer. She tilted her head up and focused, drew on a faint thread of the Force. 

Ahsoka inhaled. _I am one with the Force…_ She let her breath out through clenched teeth. _The Force is with me._

There was the distant crackling of a commlink, and then a familiar voice that sent a rush of relief through her body. 

“ _Copy that. The prisoner has escaped. I repeat, the prisoner has escaped._ ”

Ahsoka realized she still had a hold of Maul’s arm and let him go, creeping closer to the sound, one hand coming to rest over her utility belt, where her lightsaber was clipped. Her other hand dropped to the hilt of her shoto.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Maul snapped, irritably, though thankfully quiet. “The shuttles are this way.”

“It’s Rex,” she said. “I can save him.”

“We ought to leave now,” Maul said, storming after her, one hand closing around her wrist with a strength she shouldn’t have found surprising and yet did. “He is lost to you. This _life_ is lost to you.”

“No.” Ahsoka jerked her arm away from him. “He’s my _friend_. I’m not going to leave him. That wasn’t the plan—”

“Plans change, _Padawan_ ,” Maul snarled at her, his tone curt and cruel, though he made no move to grab for her arm a second time. 

The insult stung, like a glancing blaster bolt. Ahsoka blinked her eyes, ducking her head, unwilling to let Maul see that he’d wounded her. 

“I’m not going to leave Rex behind,” she said. “If you want to go, go. Take the shuttle.”

Maul sighed through pursed lips. “And then how will you escape, Lady Tano?”

“We’ll…we’ll find a way,” Ahsoka said, though she knew her only escape would likely be at the end of a blaster held by a man she considered one of her dearest friends. 

Maul rubbed a hand over his face and let out a strangled sound, choked with frustration and—Ahsoka could sense—bone-deep exhaustion. “I see now why you turned your back on your order,” he said, though Ahsoka could sense no satisfaction in him when she flinched away from the insult. 

“What do you mean by that,” she asked, barely a question, her tone flat and lifeless. She kept staring at the far end of the hall, where she sound of marching boots grew louder and louder. 

“You don’t have the discipline to be a Jedi,” Maul said, with a thoughtful hum. “Far too attached.”

Ahsoka huffed, rolled her eyes, and drew her shoto from her belt. She tossed Maul her ’saber, which he eyed with some disdain. “You’ll need it if you’re going to get to the shuttle,” she said to his questioning look.

His eyes fell to her shoto. “That little thing will hardly provide enough of a defense against those—those mindless drones,” Maul snapped. 

“Well? What do you propose then?” Ahsoka whispered, harshly, moving in closer to him when the uniform clip of booted footsteps grew even closer. 

Maul glanced at her without moving his head, just the barest flick of sick yellow eyes, which she found incredibly unsettling. He extended his empty hand to her. “Two together will work far better than one alone,” he said, cryptically.

Ahsoka glanced at his extended hand. 

_There can only be two. No more, no less._

“I won’t be your apprentice,” Ahsoka said, tipping her chin up at him, keeping her empty hand pressed against her thigh. 

“I am not asking for you to be my apprentice. I am merely offering my pledge. We will—” Maul sighed unhappily, pressing his lips in a thin line. “—save your friend, we will escape in one of the shuttles, and then we will go our separate ways. Is that acceptable to you, Lady Tano?”

Ahsoka frowned, letting her eyes skate down Maul’s tattooed arm to his extended hand. She could practically hear the sound of war drums pounding in her head—or was that her heartbeat shivering up from her chest, into her lekku, and echoing in her montrals? 

Ahsoka reached out, clasped Maul’s wrist tightly in her hand, and he squeezed on her wrist firmly in return. 

“It is acceptable, Lord Maul,” she said, giving him a curt nod.

Maul slipped his hand away first. “All right, then,” he said, lifting her lightsaber and igniting it. 

The pale blue plasma blade looked almost wrong coming from the hilt in his hand, but Ahsoka pushed down the nausea that rose in the back of her throat. 

Nodding once more, she turned for the door. Now would have been the perfect time for Maul to strike her down and take his revenge. She paused, waiting, wondering if he would seize hold of the opportunity.

She could feel him at her back, could feel his presence as it pulsed at the edges of her own, but sensed no dark intentions. Well, no darker than usual, she amended. 

She peered around the corner. The clones were filling the hallway now, a sea of faceless soldiers in identical orange and white helmets. The group parted like waves, and Rex strode to the front of the line. 

He hadn’t noticed her, not yet.

“They’re here, somewhere,” Rex’s voice—and yet _not_ —announced. “We must find and eliminate both of them.”

“I want the pleasure of eliminating Tano,” called out one of the troopers she didn’t recognize.

“No, I do!” another unfamiliar trooper’s voice shouted out. 

A cacophony of identical voices rang out, each baying for her blood. Maul stood silently beside her, curiously quiet on the matter of who would win the right to kill her. She’d expected a quip, or some bitter humor, but he offered nothing.

“I will take Tano,” Rex cut through the chatter, chuckling wryly. “You lot can content yourselves to fight over who kills Maul.” 

With a hum of approval, the troopers dispersed, leaving Rex in the hall alone. 

“It’s not too late for you to change your mind,” Maul hissed. “We can cut him down here and now.”

Ahsoka elbowed him away and lifted her arm. “No. Absolutely not.” She tapped out a signal on her commlink to alert the droids, who were waiting for her word. 

The three of them came barreling down the corridor right for Rex. Ahsoka watched, breath held tight in her throat, as R-7 banged hard into the backs of his armored legs. Rex spun, drawing his blasters out of their holsters and aiming them at R-7. 

“What the—have you got your wires crossed?” he growled.

R-7 beeped and trilled at him, knocking into his shins now. _You are looking for Ahsoka? I know where she is!_

“Damned karking droid,” Rex muttered irritably, finger tightening on the trigger. “If you know where Tano is, spit it out now.”

“I’m right here.” Ahsoka stepped into the hall.

Rex lifted his blaster and pointed it right at her chest. “Ahsoka Tano,” he said, his tone flattening into a dull monotone that tingled uncomfortably in Ahsoka’s montrals. “You have been found in violation of Order—”

“I am afraid you’re mistaken.” Maul emerged from behind her, her lightsaber still clutched in his hand. He swung the lightsaber in his hand showily, as if he’d wielded it for years; the thought itched at Ahsoka’s montrals unpleasantly. 

“G-G, the doors,” Ahsoka called out, whipping her head in the direction of the blast doors. 

The astromech rolled to the control panel and extended an appendage, fitting it into a socket by the set of doors. The doors slid shut with a hiss and bolted shut, effectively sealing the three of them off from the rest of Rex’s troops.

Rex strode forward, pressed the muzzle of his blaster into Ahsoka’s chest. “You’ll regret that. Any last words, _Jedi_?”

Ahsoka looked at him, at where his eyes would be if they weren’t hidden by his plastoid helmet. “I’m sorry,” she said, her tone going soft around the edges.

“You’re _what_?” Rex tilted his head at her, shook himself as if to jar her words free, and started to press on the trigger. 

CH-33P rolled up behind Rex and stunned him with a shock of electricity that sent him falling to the ground in a heap. Ahsoka rushed to his side and pressed a hand against his leather pauldron; the rise and fall of his chest was reassuring. 

“All right,” she said, looking up to Maul who, she noticed with some displeasure, had affixed her ’saber to his belt. “Let’s get him on the shuttle and get out of here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Ahsoka hadn’t known what to expect when she led their motley group along shadowy corridors—that felt almost haunted now—but it certainly wasn’t the sight that greeted them in the hangar bay._
> 
> _Maybe she should have anticipated **this**. She probably should have. Some **Jedi** she’d turned out to be._
> 
> _Ahsoka frowned. She also hadn’t counted on her critical inner voice sounding so much like Maul._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on posting two chapters in one day but I hammered this out and figured why not. 
> 
> I imagine we'll be mostly canon compliant(ish) for the next chapter or two, before going full divergence.
> 
> I struggled a little bit with how closely to adhere to canon here. We'll see how this goes.

Ahsoka hadn’t known what to expect when she led their motley group along shadowy corridors—that felt almost haunted now—but it certainly wasn’t the sight that greeted them in the hangar bay.

Maybe she should have anticipated _this_. She probably should have. Some _Jedi_ she’d turned out to be.

Ahsoka frowned. She also hadn’t counted on her critical inner voice sounding so much like Maul. 

Ahsoka flattened herself against a wall and peered around the corner. One of the troopers—when she squinted, she could see the painted design on his mask—was busy barking frantic orders to his brothers. 

Though Ahsoka wondered if that had changed too, with the issuing of Order 66. They’d been practically eager to cut her down and they’d once considered her one of them. They probably wouldn’t treat Rex any differently once she had managed to remove his chip.

She turned back to Maul, who held Rex’s limp form in his arms. “There’s too many of them to just sneak past. Any suggestions?” 

Maul scowled at her and shifted Rex’s dead weight in his arms. “Nothing comes to mind.”

Ahsoka sighed and tapped her finger against her chin as she mentally cycled through their far too limited options. “We could go out, guns blazing—” she began, but Maul cut her off with an imperious shake of the head—and a jostle of Rex. “Careful.”

“If we were to go out, _guns blazing_ , as you say,” Maul said, enunciating each word slowly, “we would be immediately captured or killed. Most likely both.”

Ahsoka looked away, the frown she hadn’t yet been able to wipe off her face deepening. Maul was right, as much as she hated to admit it even to herself. If they tried to break for the shuttle, the troopers would see her and it would be over before it even had a chance to begin.

They needed… 

“A distraction,” Ahsoka breathed out, mostly to herself. 

Maul tipped his head her way. “A distraction?” 

“Something big enough to capture their attention,” she said, with a decisive nod. 

Maul shifted Rex in his arms before bending awkwardly at the knee, servos whirring, as he placed him on the ground. “A distraction, yes,” he echoed, sounding pleased. “If you’ll allow…” Maul plucked the hilt of Ahsoka’s lightsaber off his belt. 

“What’s your plan?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn’t meant to sound so skeptical but—well, it was Maul. How could she not?

“I am quite skilled in creating chaos,” Maul said, striding forward, flicking those yellow eyes over the troopers still arranging themselves in the hangar bay.

Ahsoka followed his gaze. “Don’t. Don’t hurt them.”

“And why should I spare them?” Maul asked, sounding almost confused, as if he couldn’t fathom why Ahsoka would want the clone troopers to live. “They will most certainly kill us without a second thought.”

“I promised him I wouldn’t,” Ahsoka said, sparing a glance for Rex’s unconscious form where it lay between them. 

Maul let out a long, frustrated breath through a tightly clenched jaw. “You’d rather die than fight to survive?”

“No! No, it’s not that,” Ahsoka hissed, feeling her own frustration rise in return. 

“Then _what_ is it? Are you a coward then? Do you have a death wish?” Maul snapped at her.

Fire sparked in her blood, remnants of the warriors her people had once been, and it made her want to lash out blindly, but she tamped it down to continue the conversation. She raised a hand palm-out as if to ward off Maul’s suggestion—an implication, really—of harming the clones. 

“I _won’t_ be the one to kill them.”

Maul gave her a curt nod, lips pressing into a grim line. “You won’t have any blood on your hands, Lady Tano.”

Ahsoka let out choked laugh. “I already do.”

“Then what’s a little _more_ blood?” Maul asked, tapping a finger against her open palm.

Ahsoka jerked her hand away and rubbed it where he’d touched her. “I—I’m not like you. I’m _nothing_ like you!”

“Are you so certain of that?” Maul asked, managing to sound genuinely curious. “You and I were both cast out of our respective orders. We have been abandoned by our masters—”

Ahsoka flared, shoving at Maul. “Anakin would never—”

Rather than react with anger and fight back, Maul just laughed, a low self-satisfied sound. “Ah, ah, my lady.” He ran his thumb over the activation switch on her lightsaber almost teasingly, as if daring her to stop him and take it away. “We’ve wasted far too much time standing here arguing. Time is running out. For both you and I, as well as your friend.”

Ahsoka stepped back, the surge of anger flooding away as quickly as it had come. Now the shame crept in, but Ahsoka pushed back against it weakly. 

She’d never admit to Maul that he was right, but… Ahsoka couldn’t see any other way out. They couldn’t cut through the troopers. They couldn’t try to make a run for it. Unless the battalion was somehow neutralized, no longer a threat, there was no way any of them could escape. He _was_ right; Rex was in danger and they needed to get off the ship as quickly as they possibly could.

“Okay,” she said, shoulders slumping. “Cause some chaos. It’s what you’re good at.”

Maul glanced down at the ’saber hilt in his hand before looking back up at Ahsoka. “May I take this with me?”

“Just bring it back in one piece,” she muttered, waving dismissively at him.

He gave her a tight nod and turned, stiffly, marching off in the direction of the hangars. Ahsoka tried not to cringe at the sight of her lightsaber clutched in one of his hands. That lightsaber was her life. Entrusting it to the likes of Maul...

Ahsoka glanced down at Rex, who hadn’t so much as stirred. With Maul buying them a little more time, she might have a chance to extract the chip now. Looking up, Ahsoka beckoned the droids closer. R-7, G-G, and CH-33P all turned to Ahsoka, as if looking for direction.

“Where’s the nearest medical bay?”


End file.
